


Crash And Burn

by adeclanfan



Series: Elizabeth!Verse [26]
Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-19
Updated: 2012-05-20
Packaged: 2017-11-03 21:44:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/386287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adeclanfan/pseuds/adeclanfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SCIU Head Addison tries to make Helen Magnus yield to their demands by kidnapping someone close to her, but his brilliant plan backfires and blows up in his face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Season 4, graphic violence and mentions of rape. Dark. Whump.

The grunting and sobbing mercifully stopped in the back of the plane. Five companions sat handcuffed and belted into their seats, waiting to see if another would be taken. They were passengers from the daily Sanctuary shuttle bus in Manhattan, and today the agents from SCIU killed their driver and forced them into a truck, and then a plane, with no explanations given for any of it. No charges. Nothing to indicate what they did to warrant this sort of treatment, other than living in the New York Sanctuary. 

Elizabeth Watson made eye contact with each of the others. The only possible eavesdropper would be the pilot, but he was busy at the front of the plane talking to SCIU headquarters and the various control towers on his radio, and not paying attention to them. 

“The big one,” Elizabeth hissed. She bared clenched teeth and gestured to the closed door with a tip of her head. Her face was streaked with her tears and blood, one eye blackened and swelling shut; she'd been the first one dragged onto the bed in the back of the plane and raped, after the plane reached cruising altitude. “He dies.”

As if it weren't enough entertainment for a single flight, the two men ate lunch in front of them, taunting them with the food and not giving them so much as a sip of water. Then dragged the brunette girl into the back for more fun. Beth didn't know her name, only knew her happy smiling face from their shuttle bus rides to and from work. They were Abnormals. In that, they had a kinship. 

“Why are they doing this? Where are they taking us?!” Another woman asked, looking shell-shocked and terrified in turns. “Have you ever killed someone before?”

“No,” Elizabeth shook her head. “Never. But, those men are bigger monsters than anything I've ever seen in a Sanctuary.”

A dark haired man nods and says, “I'll do it all myself if I need to.”

“Smaller guy would be easier to start with.” This man was young, only a teenager. 

“Big bastard will only get worse if we get to our destination...” Another man adds, his voice hard with resolve. 

They stopped talking because the door opened. The second woman hadn't fought as hard as Elizabeth, and when they half carried half dragged her back to her seat, she wasn't sporting a black eye or bleeding mouth, just the tear streaked face and dead eyes. In the eyes, they were identical. 

“Feed the animals. I'm going to use the shower.”

When he was gone, the young man next to the Beth says, “We aren't animals. We're taxpaying, law abiding citizens, same as you.”

The guard drops his gaze to the floor, cheeks flaming. 

How nice for him to find his missing conscience, Beth thought sourly. 

The group make eye contact a last time and one by one they each give a nod of assent. They are agreed that the big man dies first. The odds are in their favor for now, five against two if it comes down to a fight. The brunette girl can't be counted on to help, she's slumped in her seat, unconscious.

The remaining guard looks at Elizabeth and she gives him the dead eyes. He blinks, shakes his head as if to clear it, then reaches out and strokes the black bruise marring her high cheekbone. “Sorry,” he whispers, but it doesn't change anything in Elizabeth's head. He takes out the key and unlocks her cuffs to let her feed herself a sandwich. Beth hits him so hard she breaks several bones in her hand, then kicks him once he's down on the floor. She uses the guard's keys to unlock the others. “Good luck,” she tells the dark haired man. 

“You too, Elizabeth.”

She blinks in surprise at her name. “You know my name?”

“Of course,” he smirks, “With the exception of you, we're all telepaths.”

Elizabeth looks at the others. “Oh.”

“I don't know how to fly a plane. Do you?” 

She winced, because she had been thinking of her flying lessons with Helen Magnus minutes before. “In a straight line. No turns or elevation changes or landings.”

He sighed. “Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Elizabeth.” There was something so final in the tone behind the words. Elizabeth got the underlying message loud and clear. They were all probably going to die. She thought of Helen and Declan and her siblings, she'd never see any of them again if they did this, but there was no guarantee she would see them if this plane reached its destination, either. Better to die trying. 

Taking a deep breath, she said, “let's do this.” There was no plan other than making the man who raped her pay. 

Beth took the gun from the guard with her unbroken left hand and led the way into the tiny bathroom. They startled the half dressed man, but he was quick and the shot Elizabeth fired hit high and to the right, in his shoulder. He charged her and got a hand around the gun's barrel. Elizabeth fired a second time hitting him in the belly. She jumped back as blood sprayed her and dropped the gun at his feet. 

The men dragged her out of the way, to safety, giving the injured guard a chance to get the gun back. He fired at them twice before slumping face down onto the bed. Someone retrieved the gun from his hand and shot him in the back of the head. They heard a gunshot from the forward compartment and the dark haired man told Elizabeth, “Stay here. Let us handle the rest, sweetheart.”

There were more gunshots and the sounds of a struggle and then the plane started a slow dive. Elizabeth ran between the seats and tripped on the body of the smaller guard on her way to the cockpit. She righted herself and made it the rest of the way to be greeted with the worst sight imaginable. The pilot was slumped over the controls. Dead from a shot to the head. 

=-=-=-=-=-=

“What's going on, Morgan? There's an alert for Manhattan?” Declan asked, worried. 

The image of Edward Morgan, Head of House for the NYC Sanctuary stared grimly back at him. “The bastards from SCIU hit my rush hour shuttle. Killed the driver and took all six of the residents.” 

“Damn it.”

“There's more, Declan.” Edward's face twisted into a grimace, “This is the shuttle Elizabeth usually uses, and I've been able to confirm she was one of the residents they took.”

Declan dropped the tablet in his hand and it smashed on the floor. His eyes met Morgan's on the big suspended screen, and he felt the blood drain from his face. It took him a few seconds to find words, “Bloody fucking hell.” 

“My sentiments exactly. I haven't been able to reach Magnus, yet. She's going to have my balls on a platter if anything bad happens to that girl.”

Declan winced; he didn't envy Morgan's next task. “Who else did they take and where did they take them?”

“Truck went straight to La Guardia. They got five of my telepaths and Elizabeth.”

Declan frowned. “Makes no sense, 'Lizabeth isn't a telepath.”

“She's Helen Magnus' lover. That may be all the reason SCIU needs. There's something else. I need you to see something, but I don't trust any communication to be secure at the moment. Get here as soon as possible.”

“Right. I'll catch the next flight out.”

“Don't use La Guardia. I'll meet you personally at JFK with a security team of our own.” He hesitated for a minute, then added, “I'm sorry, Declan. I had no idea...”

Declan cut him off, “You couldn't have known they would strike at us so soon after severing ties with the world governments. We'll get our people back, Edward, every last one of them. And then we'll deal with SCIU.”

“I need to call Magnus.”

“Right. See you soon.” Morgan's face disappeared and Declan kicked the remains of the tablet at his feet. “Fuck!” 

To be continued...


	2. Chapter 2- Voices

“Oh damn. Oh God.” Elizabeth dragged the pilot's corpse out of the chair and sat down at the controls. The dive was getting steeper and Beth took a deep breath to get past the hysterical panic bubbling up and gripped the yoke, pulling back gently until the nose of the plane started to come up. 

Relief flooded her, and the dark haired man sat down in the co pilot seat. “Nice work on getting us going straight again.”

“We're still going to die,” she said quietly. “We're running low on fuel.”

“Do you know how to use the radio?” 

Elizabeth shook her head.

“Got your cell phone?”

Elizabeth felt in the pocket of her jeans and pulled her iPhone out. It was a miracle the nasty guards let her keep it. 

“Can you call Magnus and have her talk us down?”

Elizabeth looked at him like he was nuts, “I don't even know where she is today.” 

“Try, Elizabeth,” the man coaxed, gently. 

“Okay.” Beth hit the speed dial for Helen's cell, which answered on the first ring. “Helen?” Relief flooded her. 

“'Lizabeth? I just got off the phone with Edward. He said you were kidnapped. Where are you?”

Elizabeth sighed. There was no way to put it that wasn't going to make Helen go nuts with worry. “About 27000 feet above the ground and I don't know where we are. The pilot is dead. I'm trying to keep us from crashing.”

Helen gasped, “Dear God.”

“I think we should've done a lesson on landing. Please, you have to tell me what to do...” 

“The first thing, the most important thing, is to stay calm. It's not so much different from driving a car.” 

Her lover's familiar voice was an anchor over the next twenty minutes; Helen talked her patiently through the controls and dials. With the dark-haired man's help in the co-pilot seat, they got ready to land the plane. Below them now the land was relatively flat with no mountains or forests to crash into to. They determined the plane was on a course for the SCIU holding facility at Area 51 and had already entered New Mexico. They didn't have enough fuel to change course and go anywhere else, like an actual city airport. The plan was to set the plane down far enough from Area 51 that Helen could mobilize a team of her own and get to them first. Beth prayed she could do it. 

“Keep the nose of the plane up. You're going to have to pull back hard. Can you do that?”

Elizabeth winced, “I don't think so. My right hand is broken. It's already swollen to twice its normal size.”

“Damn it. Who have you got there with you?”

“I don't know his name...” She handed the phone to the man, and he promptly put it on speaker. 

“I'm Donovan, Dr Magnus,” he said. “I've got two good hands. I'll help her put it down.”

“Good. Its time to begin your decent.” There was a small pause, and Helen's voice came again, “Elizabeth?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you. Stay alive for me. I'll find you.” 

“I know you will, but I'm really scared. I love you, too. Tell Declan...” She gave one pitiful sob, then made herself get a grip. 

“He knows, but I'll remind him.” Helen's voice returned to the no nonsense tone that always made her feel better. “Landing gear is down. Keep the nose up. Tell everyone in the back to strap in.”

“Already done.”

“I'll see you on the ground.”

Between the two of them, they managed to keep the plane level and nose up. The worst problem came from an unexpected group of pine trees after touch down. They had no way of steering to avoid them and the wings were sheared off as they past between them, causing the plane to roll onto its left side. The nose smashed against another tree, stopping the forward motion with a painful jolt and shattering the glass all over them. That was the last thing Elizabeth remembered before she blacked out. 

=-=-=-=-=

Elizabeth opened an eye to a sterile white room. Her other eye felt swollen, but she tried to get it to open as much as possible. The room was strange and unfamiliar, not like the rooms in the Sanctuaries. Was she dead, stuck in some sort of holding area between Heaven and Hell? The thought was followed by such intense pain in her shoulder and head it caused the room to spin violently. She shut her eye and breathed deeply to keep from vomiting. Not dead, then. Dead people don't get vertigo and nearly throw up. 

Beth opened her eyes a second time and willed the room to stay still. In the hallway, she could hear voices. It took a few minutes, but eventually she could make out the conversation. 

The first man said, “I'm just wondering why you took this girl? She isn't a telepath. How can she possibly be of use to your breeding program?”

“She's not here for the program; that young woman is Helen Magnus' plaything. We've been tracking her for months. If anything is going to convince Magnus to tow the line, having her in our possession will.”

There was a pause followed by a sigh, “Helen has had many, many lovers. The girl is only one of the most recent additions. Not the first and certainly not the last. There's nothing special about Elizabeth Watson, other than obvious uses Helen has for an attractive young woman.”

“How is her recovery progressing?” 

“It took our doctors four hours to patch her up after the crash. She took the most damage: a dislocated shoulder, broken hand, concussion. She was raped and sodomized.” There was disgust in the tone of his voice, and disapproval. 

Another pause. “And the others?”

“Bumps and bruises. A broken arm. One of the telepaths was raped as well. The pilot took a stray bullet to the head in the struggle for control of the plane, and the telepaths said it was the Watson girl who put the plane down in more or less in one piece.”

“I want to talk to her when she wakes up.”

“It could be a while.” 

“I've got all day.” 

Elizabeth's damaged brain tried to place the one voice, it was so familiar, but the name eluded her. The things he said about her relationship with Helen were hurtful. It felt like he stuck a knife in her guts and twisted it until she couldn't breathe. Her cheeks were hot and tears slipped from her eyes. Was she just another number to Helen? Girlfriend number 6 or even 60? The bandaged hand that didn't have an IV in it went to her mouth to stifle the wail the started in her chest and grew with each passing second. 

The door opened and Nikola Tesla walked in. 

If Elizabeth hurt before, knowing it was Nikola who said those things about her made it exponentially more horrid. Her whole body shook with the force of her sobs and crying sent stabs of agony into her already aching head. More pain layered on pain as Elizabeth curled herself into a protective fetal position on the narrow hospital bed. 

Nikola came to the edge of the bed and reached out for her, but she slapped his hand away with her broken hand. His eyes widened, “It's alright, Kitten. You're safe now. The men who hurt you are dead.”

If anything, his words made Elizabeth's drug hazed misery worse. She'd been kidnapped and raped because she was Helen's lover. She shot a man, didn't that make her a murderer? And the death blow was Nikola confirming her worst secret fears. She wasn't as special to Helen as she'd been led to believe. She was a warm body, a toy. She was nothing. It was hard to get enough air, impossible even. Beth tried to sit up, but the nausea and pain was too much. She vomited over the pristine white sheets, choking on bile and tears and snot. 

Nikola's presence was all but forgotten until his arms gathered her to him and he held her as best he could with her left arm being in a sling and bandaged to keep her dislocated arm immobile. 

“I want...” she whimpered.

Nikola let her go enough to look at her face, the blackened swollen eye, the cuts and bruises, “What was that, Kitten?”

Beth took and deep breath and wailed, “I want to die! Why didn't you just let me die?” 

“What? Why?” Nikola demanded, not understanding why she wasn't happy to be alive and safe.

“She doesn't really love me, and... she'll never love me now that those men hurt me. I'm a dirty, worthless, murdering whore.” 

It dawned on Nikola Tesla that Elizabeth had been awake long enough to hear what he said to the SCIU Head, Addison. Or Asshole-son as Nikola had taken to calling him behind his back. She heard what he said about her, and in her drugged state, she thought he really meant it. “Shit. Shit. Shit.” He cupped her quivering chin in his hand, as gently as he would hold a baby dove, and pressed the most tender kiss imaginable to her cracked, swollen lips. 

“Listen to me, Elizabeth. First of all, don't ever call yourself that again, you are not any of those things.” He only used her given name when he was deadly serious about something and he hoped she knew him well enough to recognize that. “Second, I had to tell those lies to Asshole Addison. He's had you followed. He knows you meet Helen at the little apartment in Manhattan and it wouldn't surprise me if he jacks off to video of you and Helen making love from some secret web-cam he has planted in there to spy on you. 

“If I told him the truth, told him that I've never seen Helen love someone as passionately as I've seen her love you. That you are one of the reasons she doesn't just take a gun to her head and join James and Ashley and her dear pater... Addison is the type to hurt you so Helen has to watch you suffer. He didn't seem surprised those men raped you.” He kissed her again, just as gingerly, on her temple. “You've been through hell and back in the last twenty-four hours, Kitten, and I never meant to add to it. I rarely admit I'm wrong and I never say I'm sorry, but this time I am sorry, Elizabeth.” 

Nikola Tesla worked for SCIU? Helen never told her Nikola went to work for their enemies. How could he? Elizabeth turned her head away from him while she considered his words. 

Nikola watched her, helpless to fix the mess Addison's idiots made of the beautiful, vibrant young woman he knew. He wanted to tear flesh with his claws and teeth, taste the blood of the men who hurt her and it was too bad someone else got to them first. Being powerless was not something Nikola took lying down. 

First things first, Tesla called in a person he trusted and held Elizabeth in his arms while the woman changed the soiled linens and cleaned up. He put Elizabeth down gently on the fresh sheets, tucking the cool fabric around her, adding two warmed blankets when she started to shiver violently. 

“Thirsty,” Elizabeth croaked.

Nikola went to the ice machine and got a paper cup of ice chips. She accepted a few pieces from his spoon and then drifted back to sleep. He sat for a while watching, then decided to post a guard outside and a nurse inside, so he could go to his office and call Helen. She was not going to forgive him for all of this, even knowing he hadn't arranged the kidnapping wouldn't keep her from including him in her need for blood. 

The best Nikola could do was give her what she needed to nail Addison's balls to the wall.


	3. Ask Me No Questions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elizabeth and Addison go head to head.

 

The next time Elizabeth woke, a bald man was sitting in a chair beside her bed. Her aching head provided his name, Addison. Every inch of her hurt so fucking bad it brought tears to move anything. The fuzziness around the edges let her know she was doped with as much morphine as the doctors dared to give her. 

He noticed her eyes open and sat up straighter. “Hello, Miss Watson. My name is Greg Addison. I'm sure Helen Magnus has mentioned me.”

Before Beth could stop herself she mumbled, “Asshole.”

Addison laughed, “I see Mr. Tesla mentioned me as well.”

Her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth, and her mouth tasted like she'd licked the inside of a sewer pipe, but she managed to ask, “What do you want?”

“I'd like to ask you a few questions.”

Elizabeth's forehead creased as she frowned at him, and the first word that came into her head slipped out of her mouth. “Dickhead.” Her good eye widened at her drug induced rudeness. 

“By all means, Elizabeth, don't hold anything back. I've been called far worse. Are you ready to answer a question?”

“No.”

Addison continued, “Do you know who is doing the financing for the Sanctuary Network, now? Can you tell me the person's name?”

The corner of her mouth turned up, “Can't. Too much morphine. Gonna sleep again soon.” She blinked and now there were two of him. 

“You can tell me.”

“There are two of you,” Elizabeth giggled. “Crap.”

“Do you know the person? Have you met him?”

Elizabeth's brain gave her the name, provided the memory of her meeting Richard Feliz in Germany, on an overnight trip with Helen. She bit her tongue hard to keep the man's name from falling out and going to the two Addisons' standing beside her bed. Richard had been sweet and charming and she didn't want to get him into trouble. Beth liked Feliz, and she didn't like those Addisons. “I like him better than you.” 

Elizabeth closed her eyes and pressed her lips into a thin line, a tear slipped down her cheek. She wished Addison would just go away and leave her alone. 

“I didn't tell those men to rape you, Elizabeth.” 

“Don't believe you...” 

He walked around the bed and did something to the plastic tubing running to her IV. The skin around the needle started to burn and Elizabeth whimpered at the addition of yet another layer to her already unbearable pain. It was hard to breathe now. 

“I need that name, Elizabeth. Tell me the name of Magnus' new banker.” 

Her vision dimmed until there was only a tunnel with Addison at the end of. It was a place Elizabeth didn't want to go. Was he killing her? She didn't want to die. Helen was going to come and save her, wasn't she. “Richard,” she whispered. 

“Richard? Good girl. Now, what's his last name?”

Something was wrong, really really wrong. Elizabeth started to shake, even the arm in the sling was jerking violently. Addison's eyes went huge, filled with surprise. The tunnel collapsed and the world faded to black.

=-=-=-=-=-=

Elizabeth was standing in a long white hallway. There were so many doors. All of them were closed, so she kept walking and walking for what seemed like miles. She grew frustrated. Stopping at the next door, Beth put a hand on the door knob; a hand covered hers and she looked up in surprise to find it was James. He looked as young and handsome as when she'd first been adopted. “James?”

“Yes, 'Lizbeth.”

“Where am I, James? Why can't I get out of here?” 

James smiled at her, the gentle smile he always gave her when she was scared and needed reassurance, “It's not time for the door, yet.”

“I want to go home, James. I don't want to be here!”

“Are you happy back there? Do they make you happy?”

Elizabeth smiled at him and nodded emphatically. “Yes, James. They make me deliriously happy.” How could he not know? 

James rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, “The delirious part is right. Will you at least name your first son after me?”

“I'd name all my sons after you if you wanted me to...”

“The first one will suffice.” 

“I miss you.”

That got her a typical James smirk, “Do I look like I've gone anywhere, silly chit?”

“I love you,” Beth laughed. 

“Of course you do,” James deadpanned. “How could you not?”

“How do I get out of here and back to Helen and Declan?”

“It's really quite elementary, my dearest 'Lizbeth.” James pressed his lips to her forehead and then whispered, “Wake up.”

=-=-=-=-=-=

She must have dozed off, because when Elizabeth opened her eyes again, Addison was gone, replaced by a nurse with a paper cup of ice chips and a spoon. Beth opened her mouth to talk but the nurse used to opportunity to shove the spoon into her open mouth. 

“Shhh, honey, don't try to talk. Your throat is too dry. Relax and let me feed you some ice, okay? Nod if you understand.”

Elizabeth nodded. The ice melted on her tongue, but she had a hard time getting the water to go down the back of her throat. It was like it didn't want to go. She frowned and the nurse said, “Go ahead. Try to swallow it. You'll feel better if you do. You've been asleep for nearly twenty-four hours, this time.”

There was something in the way the nurse said it that made Elizabeth think she'd missed something big during her 'sleep'. She'd had the weirdest dreams during her nap. Bits and pieces of the dream and the events of the last two days came in little disjointed flashes. Her pain was better. The right hand hand the first three fingers taped together to immobilize them, but it didn't hurt as much and the swelling was better. The other arm was still in a sling, but the IV was out of her hand and in the bend of her right arm, instead. 

It was then that she remembered something important. “Did Addison try to kill me?” Elizabeth rasped. 

The nurse's jaw dropped open and her eyes went gigantic and fearful. She glanced at the door. “No, don't be silly. He asked you some questions is all, but you were tired and fell asleep.” 

“What did he inject into the IV line?”

The door to the room opened and Addison walked in. “You can go,” he told the scared nurse. “She's awake enough to answer my questions, now.” The nurse looked from him to Beth and he snapped, “Get out.” She fled the room. 

Addison took her chair. “Do you remember our last conversation, Miss Watson?”

“A little bit. I was pretty drugged up.”

Addison nodded, “I'd like you to tell me the name of the man who is handling the money for Helen Magnus and her Sanctuaries. You told me his name is Richard. I'd like you to tell me his last name.” Elizabeth opened her mouth to tell him to go to hell, but he anticipated it and got there first, “I'd advise you to cooperate, Elizabeth. I have the full backing of the United States government and the President himself in this matter. You're a only visitor to this country on a work visa. It would be unfortunate if I had to have you deported and labeled as a threat to national security. Your dreams of becoming an American citizen and owning a restaurant here would be gone forever, then.” 

Beth closed her eyes and counted to ten. There was no doubt in her mind that he would do exactly as he threatened and she'd be banned from the United States for the rest of her life. She could go back to London. Helen would visit her there. 

“I've also just learned in the last day that your status as a citizen of the UK is in question. It was brought to their attention that you were born in Ukraine and not London as it states in your adoption records.” 

Elizabeth was too shocked to speak. How could he know that? Helen was the only one who knew where she'd come from. 

“Your twin sister Victoria was quite certain you are both Russian. She provided your true birth certificate information when she applied for a visa to fly into New York City the day before yesterday. Do you speak Russian, Miss Watson? Maybe you should get some of those language cds' and start learning.”

Fuck. Addison had her. If she didn't tell him about Richard Feliz, he'd destroy her entire life. And he might even go after her twin. He knew she was in New York City. She willed herself not to cry; she gave him the dead eyes she'd felt after his men defiled her body and then laughed about it.

Addison took her hand, the right hand, and squeezed the broken bones until she was howling with agony. “Feliz,” Elizabeth sobbed, yanking her hand from his and cradling it against her chest as she cried. “It's Feliz.”

“I knew you could be reasonable, given the right incentives.” He pushed the chair back and stood up, and as a parting shot Addison stopped at the door and said, “I'm still going to have you deported. DasveedAnja, Miss Watson.”

Elizabeth held her hand and wept.


	4. Guilty Conscience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Helen rides to the rescue and has it out with Nikola.

Nikola was waiting in the hallway as Addison hurried out of Elizabeth's room. 

“Have my plane prepped for take off. I've got what I came here for. I need to get back to New City.” 

Tesla considered this for a few seconds, then nodded. “I'll take care of it.”

“I want to be in the air in fifteen minutes, Mr Tesla.”

 _Not if Helen Magnus has anything to say about it,_ Nikola smirked to himself. He'd checked perimeter security monitors only minutes ago and Helen's assault team was already covering the exits and preparing to come in. It may have helped a tiny bit that Nikola shorted out all the perimeter and door security with an accidental power surge fifteen minutes ago. 

Nikola couldn't hand her a key, or throw the doors open and welcome her with a kiss on each cheek, as much as he might like the idea. He had to play the part of the clueless facility director in this little drama, even if it chaffed his ego. 

“I'll see to it personally, sir.” _And you won't like what I do to it, asshole._ Tesla watched him walk away before turning his attention to his Kitten. Elizabeth was sobbing, curled in a fetal position. The way she was clutching her broken hand protectively was all Nikola needed to see red with fury. He pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial for Helen. 

“Hola? Consuela? You need to to remove de plane, amiga. Or the rebels will flee the jungle.” Nikola hung up and stuffed the phone back into his pocket. 

Elizabeth was looking at him. If he'd been thinking, it would've been a good idea to give Elizabeth a last hit of morphine from the little machine before all hell broke loose. As it was, Nikola had a difficult time getting her to completely relax around him even with him being familiar to her. 

A tall figure with dark hair passed the tiny window, and his keen vampire hearing identified the sound of Elizabeth's chart being taken off the hook on the wall. Helen was here. When she finished reading the chart, heads were going to roll. The broken woman in his arms was quiet now; her head lolled against his shoulder. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Time to go home, Kitten.”

“Home?”

“Helen's here.”

“I didn't want to tell him...” she whimpered. “He was squeezing my hand so hard!”

Nikola tensed. _Oh you sadistic bastard, you are going down. If Helen leaves anything intact on that vile man, I'll take him apart myself._

Eventually, the door opened and Helen strode in. Her cheeks were wet with tears, and there was murder in her eyes. Even after all the shit he'd put Helen through in their long acquaintance, he'd never seen that look directed at him. Frustration yes, anger absolutely, but never before had a look from Helen made him feel dirty and ashamed of himself. 

Nikola didn't like it. “Addison hurt her broken hand, she needs more morphine.” He nodded to the dispenser machine. Helen went to it and hit the button once, and then again. 

Elizabeth sighed and without thinking about it Nikola pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. That simple act made Helen's voice crack, “Damn you, Nikola, don't you dare look at her like that. You've absolutely no right.” 

He straighten and turned to Helen, put his hands up in an 'I surrender' position. “He broke her down, just now. Took the bastard two days to break the Kitten, but he got the name he wanted. Addison has no further use for her.” 

Helen glanced at the figure of her lover. “I'll deal with you later, Nikola.” She put a hand on Elizabeth's arm; Beth blinked up at her, eyes hazed with painkiller. Helen's voice went heart-breakingly soft, “I'm here, 'Lizabeth. I told you I'd come for you.”

“Knew you would...” Elizabeth responded, dreamily. “Love you.”

It was the declaration of love, even after everything that happened in the last two days, that made tears burn in Helen's eyes. She covered her face in her hands. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I didn't get to you before they did...” 

Elizabeth's head turned and her eyes took in Helen and himself. “S'ok, Nikola was here t' take care o' me.” 

Helen barked a laugh and wiped her eyes, “You're too trusting by half; I'm not thrilled with Nikola's version of taking care of you.” 

“I'm Nik's Kitten...”

“I'm going to break Nik's miserable neck.”

A ghost of a smile crossed Elizabeth's face, “He told me you love me passionately...” 

Helen clucked her tongue, “Silly girl, you should already know that.”

Beth rolled her eyes, and sighed, “passionately... S' don't hurt, Nikky.”

There was a loud explosion, and then a second even louder explosion that rocked the building.

Nikola smiled, “Tell me that was Asshole's plane.”

“Oh, it was. He isn't going anywhere, and neither are you.” The look she gave him said she wasn't going to forgive or forget anything that was in that chart. 

“Might be a good idea to take your rage out on me first, I'll heal. Save the more creative stuff for Addison.”

Helen considered that. “Help me get 'Lizabeth onto the stretcher and into the van.”

“Your wish is my command.”

“I'm not in the mood for your attempts at charm, Nikola, so shut it.” 

Nikola didn't push her, he knew better. He carried Elizabeth to the stretcher waiting in the hallway, careful to keep close to where Helen was pushing the IV stand. As gently as he could, he placed onto the thin mattress, trying not to cause he any additional pain. He followed behind them as Elizabeth was loaded into the van by Sanctuary people, and wasn't at all surprised to have Helen punch him in the face as soon as the doors closed. 

“Bastard!” Helen growled. “We were almost to the crash site. You couldn't have delayed a few minutes? And where the hell were you when Addison injected truth serum into the IV and accidentally stopped Elizabeth's heart? If there is permanent damage to her heart, I will cut yours out to replace it.”

“We had her back within two minutes... Elizabeth doesn't even know it happened.”

“She shouldn't have been dead in the first place!” Helen's voice raised an octave as she became more and more enraged. “I honestly don't know what to say, Nikola! You need to be horse whipped!” Instead of inflicting more damage on him, she turned on her heel and stomped back into the complex. 

Nikola followed her, and as she passed the now empty infirmary room, Helen went inside and sat down on the edge of the bed and killed Nikola by starting to weep. Damn it. Helen Magnus didn't weep, she kicked ass and took names. Crying was for the weak, and showing weakness in front of someone, even Nikola, was unacceptable. Nikola unfastened his belt, dragged it from the loops and handed it to her. 

Helen stared at it. 

“Horse whip me, damn you. Take it out on me, but don't cry.” The word cry did something to Nikola's heart, made his chest feel constricted so he couldn't get his breath. “I've done more than enough in the last few years to warrant a beating and I'm not afraid to admit it. I turned junky teenagers into vampires, I almost got you killed in Rome, I made you come save me from the creatures in the caves while I was hunting for the Source Blood, I touched the wrong symbols on the holomap and caused an EMP in your Sanctuary, I talked William into taking the Sanctuary away from you when you were dying and giving the holographic map to that punk Adam Worth. He then took the map I gave him and destroyed Praxis and caused you to become stuck in the past... I could go on.” 

Helen's shoulders shook with the force of her sobs. Had this ever happened before? Was there ever a time when Nikola had been the strong one and let Helen fall apart? 

She wasn't paying any mind to him; she was having a breakdown less than a foot from him and Nikola couldn't bear it, couldn't accept that he had a part in destroying her. He gripped her arms and shook her. “Don't you dare fall apart on me. She's alive, and Elizabeth needs you to get her through this.” 

His wake up call worked, a little too well, Helen's voice was like Antarctic glacier, “We are finished, Nikola. If you get into a scrape, or get captured by bio-engineered bugs, or find yourself in need of a place to crash when one of your world domination schemes goes to pear shaped.” She spoke slowly and enunciated the words as if he were an idiot, apparently, she had been listening to him after all. “Don't call me. I won't take your calls; I won't unlock the door. I won't ride to the rescue EVER again. We are finished.”

“You don't mean that,” Nikola pleaded, “you're all I have left. And you know it.”

“Find someone else. Someone frail, a mere mortal, innocent and trusting and beautiful.” Helen gritted her teeth. “And I hope I'm still around to see that person taken from you: tortured, raped and killed just to make you watch it and suffer along with them.”

Nikola couldn't have hurt worse if she'd kneed him in the scrotum, “I could kill Addison for you.” She was right, though. He'd let his desire to keep his position get in the way of protecting someone he knew meant something to Helen. “I didn't do enough to protect Kitten from him.”

“She is not your kitten, Nikola. Her name is Elizabeth and she is going to be my wife!”

Nikola remembered the diamond ring on the chain he'd taken off Elizabeth's neck when she was first brought in. He'd assumed it was from Macrae. Not once did he consider Helen gave it to her. 

John Druitt had murdered Helen's one and only engagement back in their youth. From that point on, Helen never mentioned marriage, except with contempt for the whole business. For her to propose to little Elizabeth... 

“Give it back!” Helen demanded.

Nikola hadn't been listening, so wasn't sure what she wanted back, exactly. “The ring? It's in my office. I've got it in the safe.”

Helen scowled at him, “That too, but I want the blood you've taken from her, Nikola. You can't have had her nearly two full days and not taken some of her blood to snack on... I want it back. Now.”

Just the mention of the Kitten's blood had Nikola reaching for the wastepaper can and losing his breakfast. The thought of draining Elizabeth while she was so helpless and damaged was the lowest accusation Helen could ever have made. It had never occurred to him, and the fact that it occurred to Helen, that she could assume that about him, was more than Nikola could stand. 

A tear slipped down his cheek; and then another followed. And Nikola was furious. “Damn you, Helen. You really believe I drained her?” He shouted at her, “Well, I didn't and I wouldn't so... fuck you.” The whole idea turned his stomach so badly that it was several minutes before he could stop dry heaving into the trashcan. 

Nikola looked up to see Helen staring at him, with her head tilted the way it did when she was pondering a creature she didn't understand. When had he become a stranger to his best friend? When had her opinion of him become so low?

It was completely unacceptable. Nikola vowed to do whatever it took to make amends, and he was going to start by destroying Addison himself. He stalked off in the direction of the Abnormal holding area where the telepaths had comfy little rooms. He was betting they'd want a pound of flesh, too. _The more the merrier,_ he thought. 

To be continued...


	5. Payback Is A Bitch And Her Name Is Magnus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus takes back what is hers and teaches Addison a lesson he won't soon forget.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N - very graphic violence. Use of a Taser and discussion of rape.

Crash And Burn 5

 

In the corridor outside the holding rooms, Helen and Nikola encountered a group of Sanctuary people dressed in body armor. They were dragging an unconscious Asshole with them. He was currently sitting propped against a wall like a puppet with the strings cut. 

“Dr. Magnus, we secured the facility and removed all the civilians,” the team leader reported. 

“Take Addison to Nikola's conference room.” She thought for a second and added, “if any of the telepaths want to get a shot in with Addison send them there. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants a pound of this man's flesh.”

Nikola used his master code to unlock each of the doors to the rooms that held the telepaths. There were two other telepaths, one man and one woman, who had been delivered a few days earlier and were just as happy as the newcomers to be freed. 

“I have some other things for you in the safe in my office,” Nikola told Helen.

Helen nodded, “Lead the way.”

Nikola took her to his posh SCIU office. He moved an expensive watercolor painting to reveal the wall safe. “I took the rape kits and the other DNA evidence we collected from the bodies of the dead agents and put them in here so they couldn't be lost or destroyed to cover this mess up.” He also pulled out three iPhones. “I found some very interesting audio on the phones that belonged to the telepaths.” He turned the top phone on and activated the playback on the voice recorder. 

The audio was a bit muffled, but they could hear a man's voice clearly enough:

_“It's gonna be a long flight. These freak bitches are bound for the breeding program, so why don't we give them a little head start?”_

_“Which one did you have in mind?”_

_“I've always been partial to blondes. Take the cuffs off the blonde one and let's take her to the back.”_

_“No!”_

_“Shut up, bitch. I've got a comfy bed all ready for you. All you have to do is lay there quietly and take it.”_

_“Go to hell, you bastard.”_

_“Feisty little slut isn't she?”_

_“Ow, she bit me.”_

_“If you kick me again, bitch, I'll beat the shit out of you. Be a nice little slut and come along quietly.”_

_“Never. I'd rather die than be touched by you.”_

_“Fine, have it your way, don't say I didn't warn you.”_

The audio was all screams and shouts of pain as Elizabeth fought the men as they dragged her into the bedroom. The struggling sounds continued even after the slam of the bedroom door. 

For someone so small, Elizabeth put up one hell of a fight. 

Nikola stopped the playback. He didn't want to hear sounds of the assault a second time. It had upset him enough the first time. “The audio files cover both rapes and the gun battle. One of the telepaths must also be telekinetic to have activated the recorders while handcuffed.”

“These are the people you've allied yourself with, Nikola. Rapists. Kidnappers. People who would force human beings to have children so those children can be used as weapons, just another tool used by corrupt governments. You turned your back on me and the work I do to protect these people. How's it working out for you? How well are you sleeping at night?”

Nikola looked at the ground and shuffled his feet. “I've never been a part of your crusade for the rights of the furry, scaly and ugly.”

“I never asked you to be, but I also never thought I'd have to ask you not to work against me.” There was so much hurt in her voice and expression. “You're sleeping with a very nasty enemy, Nikola. How long will it be before this beast turns round and bites you? Weeks? Months?” 

Helen gathered the rape kits and the phones and put them into a leather satchel. “Give me Elizabeth's engagement ring.”

Nikola held it out to her, but pulled it back as she reached for it, “Are you serious about marrying that girl?”

“I'm deadly serious, Nikola.” She meant it, and Nikola set the black silk handkerchief with its ring and heavy gold chain into her palm. 

He made eye contact with her for the first time in what felt like hours and said, “Congratulations.”

Helen's eyebrows arched in surprise. “You meant that.” She probably didn't realize it but she was holding the little bundle over her heart, protectively.

“Yeah, I guess I did.” Nikola shrugged, “I like Elizabeth. She didn't deserve this.”

Helen put the ring and chain in the bag with the phones. “Take me to Addison.”

=-=-=-=-=-=

Greg Addison was sitting in a chair at the conference table, like he would for any business meeting. The only thing Magnus noticed as she entered was that his lower lip was split and bleeding. Otherwise he looked perfectly normal, ready to conduct a meeting that would make someone's life a living hell with his handpicked staff of ass-kissers. 

That would change soon enough. 

Helen wanted blood. Not just for Elizabeth, but for Addison thinking he could take a bus full of her people off the street and get away with it. The arrogance of that man knew no bounds. If it were just about her fiancee's suffering, she'd take him somewhere private and feed him to something hungry, piece by piece. This went beyond the need to hurt him. He needed to be taught a lesson, and it had to be something he would never forget. 

Walking around the table to where he was sitting, Magnus noticed his wrists were cuffed to the arms of the chair, and she smiled at that. She wasn't the only one who deserved a few minutes alone with Greg. She looked at the assembled faces, the telepaths were gathered in a corner glaring at the man, and her team were stationed at the entrance to the room and in each corner. 

“Magnus...”

Helen punched him in the face, then snarled at him, “Shut your mouth. Nobody in this room gives a damn what you have to say.” She walked over to the group of telepaths and sought out the young woman who had been raped during the flight to New Mexico. “Would you like to make Mr. Addison hurt the way you are hurting?”

The girl's dark eyes hardened, “Yes.”

Magnus nodded, “I thought you might.” She went to one of her people and pulled a compact personal Taser from the chest pocket of the man's vest, then went back to the young woman. “This hurts like hell. It won't kill him, though, or leave any permanent damage.” She flipped the safety cover open with her thumb and the red light of the laser sight turned on. Helen led the girl across the room and told one of the guards, “Roll him away from the table, into the open space.” 

Once she was satisfied with where his chair was placed, Magnus put the Taser into the girl's hand and showed her how to use it. “Aim fairly high on his chest.” She put the red dot just above his heart, then moved it an inch or two to the left. “That is the perfect spot for this distance. There are barbed steel probes that will sink into his muscle and deliver the shock. Hit the button when you have it where you want it.”

The telepath put the laser sight in exactly the spot Magnus suggested and hit the button. The Taser made a loud pop and the metal probes imbedded in his chest and lower abdomen, just above his belt. The Head of SCIU screamed and jerked his wrists in the cuffs as the current shocked him. He couldn't speak, and Magnus knew just how much pain he was in; it made her happy to see him hurt, but it wasn't enough, not yet. 

She took the still crackling and buzzing Taser out of the girl's hand and when the current cycle ended after two minutes, Magnus hit the button, again. And again. It was the third two minute cycle, without a break, that made Addison wet himself. 

The men on her team laughed and mocked him for it. 

Magnus smiled, walked up to Addison and ripped the barbed probes out of his flesh. “Oh, I'm sorry, did that hurt?” Then, Magnus kicked Addison in the chest and sent him and his chair crashing into the wall a few feet behind him. The chair fell over with him still shackled to it. “I don't think that hurt any worse than being raped, sodomized and in a crash landing. Do you?” She looked to the others in the room and received a chorus of negatives. 

“Good, because I am a very firm believer in the old philosophy of taking an eye for an eye.” She walked over to where Addison was moaning on the floor and squatted down so he could see her face and she could see his. “I'm going to take Elizabeth home, now. I think there are a few other people who would like to get their licks in...” She leaned down to whisper in his ear, “If you ever so much as look at Elizabeth, again, you will wake up one morning without testicles. And then, I will take the rape kits and recording of the rapes and go to the international media with them.” 

Helen stood up and addressed the guards, “Let the telepaths give Mr Addison their feedback on his proposed breeding program. If he's still alive, let him go. If not, don't waste the perfectly edible, fresh meat. We're on a tight budget these days.”

The wary look on Nikola's face was almost as good and watching Addison suffer. She gave him a parting shot, “whom do you serve, Nikola?”

Back at the vans, Helen climbed into the back beside the stretcher that held her fiancee and called to the driver that she was ready to go. A private jet waited for them at the airfield in Albuquerque. 

“Helen?”

“Yes, baby, I'm here.” Helen stroked the sweaty hair back from her forehead, tenderly.

Elizabeth sighed dreamily in her morphine haze. “Did you hit him for me?”

“Yes, I did. And I kicked him... for me.”

Her lover smiled, “Love you, Dr of Asshole kicking.”

It amazed Helen that even as hurt and drugged up as she was, Elizabeth's first instinct was to make HER laugh. To lighten HER mood. It was just one of the myriad of things Helen loved about this girl. “Love you, too, 'Lizabeth.”

“Did I tell you I saw James?” Elizabeth asked, falling back to sleep. “He said we have to name our firstborn after him.”

Helen rolled her eyes, “Sounds like James.”

“Told him I was deliriously happy.”

“Well, the delirious part is right.”

“ S'what he said, too.”

 

The End


End file.
